This book is powerful, vivid, heartwrenching and disturbing. Precious Jones, an illiterate teenager, is repeatedly raped by her father, sexually and physically abused by her mother, and bears two children by the age of 16. This story is not only the story of these tramautic events, it is also about her journey of education. What you will find in this story is the life of an African-American girl growing up in Harlem in a welfare family. The book is written in a journal format and in the narrator's vernacular. At moments, from an educated white Anglo-Saxon surburbanite's perspective, the language can be hard to grasp. At the same time it gives the story an authentic feel and paints a vivid scene. The story not only illustrates some of the most horrible social problems, but shows how our society responds them. The story of Claireece Precious Jones is a tale of sexual abuse, molestation, adolescent pregnancy, a failed education system, a failed social service system, and failed welfare system in Harlem, NY, but is also a tale of hope, compassion, and enlightenment.
This book resonated strongly with me. Early in the novel, there is a scene where Precious confronts and defeats her 9th grade math teacher in a contest of wills. I could envision myself in the same situation with a disrespectful student and in my Anglo-Saxon white heritage I thought that Precious was unreasonable and what could the math teacher really do? Not undestanding the student's cultural identity is terrible. Not investigating why a student is not following directions is inexcusable. I was very upset when I learned Precious was in ninth grade, received A's in math class and was completely illiterate.
Reading this book really made me think about what cultural baggage I really carry as a white man. It felt like there are barely 3 pages that pass in the book where Precious doesn't use derogatory phrases towards whites or our media's portrayal of normal, skinny, light skinned, and Anglo-Saxon features. This young girl's insecurities and pain manifest themselves in anger that she doesn't fully understand. I completely understand her point of view, but only because I am reading her inner thoughts. One point in the story, an alternative education teacher who Precious respected, turned Precious' homophobic hateful rhetoric into a teachable moment. I will carry the burden of the sum of my students interactions with white culture, and it will be my responsibility to break down cultural walls and show that we are all small variations of the same.
If you are interested in watching a progression of emergent literacy to near full fledged literacy, this book is a wonderful example. I said it was a little hard to read because of the author's vernacular, it might be just as accurate to say it was tough to read because the person telling the story wasn't literate during the whole story. I recognized more than I thought I would from our Elementary literacy and learning classes in these pages. Part of the story is about learning strategies that an alternative education teacher tried with Precious. I thought it sounded a little silly to have illiterate students write everything in a journal, because they were illiterate. I know this is fiction, but reading through the strategy made me think it might be useful. The strategy was about reinforcing the idea that words and thoughts can be written down and later decoded. There is a little more to it than that, but to keep it short let's say it is worth reading just from a literacy perspective.
The book is littered with profanity which makes it difficult for me to recommend using this is a classroom. That being said, it is very moving to hear of a young girl's struggle with her identity and it might reach some students where other literature fails. I also strongly recommend this book to everyone in the MAT program. Even if you never plan on teaching in an urban environment, these problems can happen in any school district and reading this story may offer some insight into a student's perspective.
Sapphire (1996). Push. New York: Vintage Books.
This book is powerful, vivid, heartwrenching and disturbing. Precious Jones, an illiterate teenager, is repeatedly raped by her father, sexually and physically abused by her mother, and bears two children by the age of 16. This story is not only the story of these tramautic events, it is also about her journey of education. What you will find in this story is the life of an African-American girl growing up in Harlem in a welfare family. The book is written in a journal format and in the narrator's vernacular. At moments, from an educated white Anglo-Saxon surburbanite's perspective, the language can be hard to grasp. At the same time it gives the story an authentic feel and paints a vivid scene. The story not only illustrates some of the most horrible social problems, but shows how our society responds them. The story of Claireece Precious Jones is a tale of sexual abuse, molestation, adolescent pregnancy, a failed education system, a failed social service system, and failed welfare system in Harlem, NY, but is also a tale of hope, compassion, and enlightenment.
This book resonated strongly with me. Early in the novel, there is a scene where Precious confronts and defeats her 9th grade math teacher in a contest of wills. I could envision myself in the same situation with a disrespectful student and in my Anglo-Saxon white heritage I thought that Precious was unreasonable and what could the math teacher really do? Not undestanding the student's cultural identity is terrible. Not investigating why a student is not following directions is inexcusable. I was very upset when I learned Precious was in ninth grade, received A's in math class and was completely illiterate.
Reading this book really made me think about what cultural baggage I really carry as a white man. It felt like there are barely 3 pages that pass in the book where Precious doesn't use derogatory phrases towards whites or our media's portrayal of normal, skinny, light skinned, and Anglo-Saxon features. This young girl's insecurities and pain manifest themselves in anger that she doesn't fully understand. I completely understand her point of view, but only because I am reading her inner thoughts. One point in the story, an alternative education teacher who Precious respected, turned Precious' homophobic hateful rhetoric into a teachable moment. I will carry the burden of the sum of my students interactions with white culture, and it will be my responsibility to break down cultural walls and show that we are all small variations of the same.
If you are interested in watching a progression of emergent literacy to near full fledged literacy, this book is a wonderful example. I said it was a little hard to read because of the author's vernacular, it might be just as accurate to say it was tough to read because the person telling the story wasn't literate during the whole story. I recognized more than I thought I would from our Elementary literacy and learning classes in these pages. Part of the story is about learning strategies that an alternative education teacher tried with Precious. I thought it sounded a little silly to have illiterate students write everything in a journal, because they were illiterate. I know this is fiction, but reading through the strategy made me think it might be useful. The strategy was about reinforcing the idea that words and thoughts can be written down and later decoded. There is a little more to it than that, but to keep it short let's say it is worth reading just from a literacy perspective.
The book is littered with profanity which makes it difficult for me to recommend using this is a classroom. That being said, it is very moving to hear of a young girl's struggle with her identity and it might reach some students where other literature fails. I also strongly recommend this book to everyone in the MAT program. Even if you never plan on teaching in an urban environment, these problems can happen in any school district and reading this story may offer some insight into a student's perspective.